J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on JBHT. Weiss Ratings cut shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services from $280.00 to $313.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $248.00 target price on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research report on Monday, May 11th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp began coverage on shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $286.30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Stock Up 2.8%

NASDAQ:JBHT opened at $273.77 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $276.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $253.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.78, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.26, a quick ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. J.B. Hunt Transport Services has a 1-year low of $130.12 and a 1-year high of $299.76.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services (NASDAQ:JBHT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The transportation company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.26 billion. J.B. Hunt Transport Services had a return on equity of 18.75% and a net margin of 5.31%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.31 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that J.B. Hunt Transport Services will post 7.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 21st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. J.B. Hunt Transport Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 25.50%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On J.B. Hunt Transport Services

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services in the second quarter valued at about $1,833,602,000. Sivia Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 2nd quarter worth about $539,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 71.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 9,684 shares of the transportation company’s stock worth $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 4,043 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 454,610 shares of the transportation company’s stock valued at $96,332,000 after purchasing an additional 10,664 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in J.B. Hunt Transport Services during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $200,587,000. 74.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services Company Profile

J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc is a leading provider of transportation and logistics solutions headquartered in Lowell, Arkansas. The company offers a comprehensive suite of services designed to move freight efficiently across North America, including intermodal, dedicated contract services, full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), final mile delivery and specialized transport.

In its intermodal segment, J.B. Hunt leverages a network of rail and truck assets to transport containers and trailers on major U.S.